Moving Pictures

[roysboy]

acoustic -ish demo with some string ideas ....appreciate any feedback ...thanks a lot everyone
roysboy

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by roysboy

acoustic -ish demo with some string ideas ....appreciate any feedback ...thanks a lot everyone
roysboy

First of all, I'm disappointed. I thought this would be a country version of Rush's "Moving Pictures."

Second of all, I had to wipe a tear from my eye before commenting. Wow! Moving song.

I like it. I like the acoustic guitar sound. I also like the cello? viola? What did you use? It's a great backdrop for the song.

However, since it's not playing against another instrument I wouldn't have it panned to the left. Sounds like you may have it panned 70 L and 30 R. It just sounded out of balance to me. Maybe pan 2 track evenly?

Great song; great lyrics.

[roysboy]

hey thanks tony .....I wondered about the panning thing on the "cello"..I've always tried to keep instruments out of the way of the vocal but I know what you are saying ...it does sound a little out of balance to me . sure appreciate the comments on the lyric ....hmmm a country version of Geddy lee?...I'll work on it .
thanks again
roysboy

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by roysboy

hey thanks tony .....I wondered about the panning thing on the "cello"..I've always tried to keep instruments out of the way of the vocal but I know what you are saying ...it does sound a little out of balance to me . sure appreciate the comments on the lyric ....hmmm a country version of Geddy lee?...I'll work on it .
thanks again
roysboy

Try 2 tracks of the strings....both panned 100% or there abouts. That will still leave the center for vocal and guitar. Or keep the same panning of your left channel strings and apply it to the right as well.

Put a little delay on one of the strings tracks for a more stereophonic effort (yes, I know it's not real sterio.)

In effect you're adding one instrument to the left channel and another instrument to the right channel. In this case it just happens to be the same instrument.

[PeterSimonRussell]

First Class.
I decline the invitation to bash this song.

Love, Tigs.
Can you get the content and emotion down to 3 minutes - for a commercial hit?

[roysboy]

tony ....just so I'm clear on what you are suggesting with the cello track ...are you saying I should copy it to a second track and pan both equally ? Also , regarding your delay suggestion ,would I have one track playing slightly out of sync with the other and if this is the effect you are suggesting , can you explain to me how that is achieved ? ....I appreciate your help with these technical things....thanks

roysboy

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by roysboy

tony ....just so I'm clear on what you are suggesting with the cello track ...are you saying I should copy it to a second track and pan both equally ? Also , regarding your delay suggestion ,would I have one track playing slightly out of sync with the other and if this is the effect you are suggesting , can you explain to me how that is achieved ? ....I appreciate your help with these technical things....thanks

roysboy

Yes, if you don't like it put it back to the way you had it.

One example:

Track 1 - Cello - Pan: Left - Delay - 12 to 20msec (shouldn't be blatantly noticable)

Track 2 - Cello - Pan: Right - No Delay

Track 3 - Guitar - Pan: Center - No Delay

Track 4 - Vocal - Pan: Center - No Delay

Pan the cello tracks to your liking... 50% ... 75%...100%; try 'em and see what works.

[roysboy]

regarding the length , I also have my concerns about that , PSR.....it will be a case of not wanting to part with any of the lyric so I've been reluctant to tackle that issue ....but I sure appreciate THAT observation on your part as it does confirm my own feelings about the length . thanks ...

my other concern was that perhaps there was a bit too much vocal compression ...any comments from anyone in that department ?

roysboy

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by roysboy

my other concern was that perhaps there was a bit too much vocal compression ...any comments from anyone in that department ?

roysboy

What concerns you about the compression? I'm listening on earbuds right now. Your vocals don't get buried (and shouldn't because of the minimal and sparse instrumenation). So you shouldn't need a lot of compression.

Check the balance of overall vocal level (maybe vocals come down a db?) and compression (based on your song there should be light compression... a few db reduction at most should do it in this song).

[roysboy]

....yeah ...maybe the overall vocal could come down a bit ...I think I agree on that one too .... my concerns about the compression was that it may be noticeable ...

I'm gonna work on the panning thing when I get some time later .
thanks .